James Silcocks

The upcoming national cycling events will be sure to draw thousands of keen spectators into the area and really help to put Lincolnshire and East Lindsey on the sporting map.

After months of planning, the British Cycling National Time Trial Championships will come to Cadwell Park on Thursday, June 25, with riders setting off around the 2.2 mile circuit before heading out towards Bluestone Heath Road, Ruckland, and Oslears Lane.

Dame Sarah Storey

The British Cycling National Road Race will take place just three days later, on Sunday, June 28, and is heavily based on the Lincoln Grand Prix route with the finish line at the Lincoln Castle Square. The defending champion is Peter Kennaugh.

It is hoped that, by hosting these prestigious national races, there will be an increased spotlight on the City of Lincoln with the 800th Anniversary of Magna Carta earlier in the same month.

Event organiser Ian Emmerson said: “It’s great to have a national championship here in Lincolnshire. It’s probably the biggest and most important sporting event ever to be held in the county.

“This prestigious event for the city of Lincoln and the county of Lincolnshire will bring a host of the country’s best known names to ride in these road race and time trial championships, with the winners taking away the coveted National Champion medals and jerseys.

“All being well, we’re expecting 5,000 more people here at Cadwell for the time trials on June 25 - and we’re looking at over 35,000 people over at Lincoln on the Sunday.

“It will be quite a spectacle, and the people inside this superb venue at Cadwell will see the riders go past about five times.”

The Leader spoke with multiple Paralympian gold medal winner Dame Sarah Storey before she took to the Cadwell Park course for a practice ahead of the upcoming time trial championships.

Dame Sarah said: “It’s a huge privilege to be able to access the circuit between the motorbikes preparing for the weekend.

“ It’s really important to be able to cycle the course ahead of the championships, and take home the lessons that we can learn to find similar roads at home.

“It’s the climbs, it’s the gearing that we really need to check out today, just to prepare for what terrain faces us when we come back for the championships.

“It’s a fantastic circuit, but it’s just down to us as a group of riders to make that race as hard as it needs to be to get the result we want.”

Dame Sarah added: “This is one of my first trips to Lincolnshire for racing, and it’s fantastic to be here.

“The support from the local people has been great and everyone’s really excited to have the championships, which is brilliant because it really is the most prestigious event in UK cycling.

“Everyone wants to get the stripy jersey to take back to the professional peloton, you get to race in that jersey for 12 months in your event, so it’s a huge honour as a British rider.

“I think that having a championship like this really helps to raise the profile of the area for everybody, not just the cycling community. It’s going to be good for everybody.”